King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.
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Cast
23 people
Jüri Järvet
King Lear
Known for
Solaris
Dead Mountaineer's Hotel
Galina Volchek
Regan
Known for
Autumn Marathon
Beware of the Car!
Elza Radziņa
Goneril
Known for
Hamlet
Valentina Shendrikova
Cordelia
Also in
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
Savage Hunt of King Stakh
Oleg Dal
Fool
Known for
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson
It Can't Be!
Donatas Banionis
Albany
Known for
Solaris
Beware of the Car!
Regimantas Adomaitis
Edmund
Known for
Hard to Be a God
Aleksandr Vokach
Cornwall
Also in
Country House
The last summer of childhood
Aleksey Petrenko
Oswald
Known for
12
The Barber of Siberia
Juozas Budraitis
King of France
Known for
The Queen's Gambit
Black Lightning
Karlis Sebris
Gloster
Known for
Dead Mountaineer's Hotel
Vladimir Yemelyanov
Kent
Also in
Come Here, Mukhtar!
Ugryum-River
Grigori Kozintsev Director · William Shakespeare Author Boris Pasternak Author
United States release August 6, 1975 · Produced in Russia, Russia · Original title Король Лир
Production
Lenfilm
Production
Russia · Russia
Produced in
Languages
Original title
Король Лир
Original language
Russian
Spoken on screen
Russian
Release dates
Russia · December 15, 1970
Limited theatrical
United States · August 6, 1975
Theatrical
Argentina
March 29, 1973 · Theatrical
Colombia
April 23, 1974 · Theatrical
Denmark
May 27, 1974 · Theatrical
Finland
April 23, 1971 · Theatrical
France
May 12, 1971 · Premiere · Cannes Film Festival (exact date unknown)
March 13, 1974 · Theatrical
Greece
September 26, 1971 · Premiere · Thessaloniki International Film Festival
Hungary
October 28, 1971 · Theatrical
Japan
February 5, 1972 · Theatrical
Poland
November 8, 1971 · Theatrical
Russia
February 8, 1971 · Theatrical
Sweden
February 3, 1976 · Theatrical
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Some details come from TheTVDB.